1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming system and a communication control method in the image forming system designed to print out an image captured by a scanner with the use of a printer, and in particular to an image forming system and communication control method which enable recovery from a failure by interlinking the scanner with the printer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, copying a printing document is performed by reading and printing out the printing document with the use of a copying machine or the like. The copying processing for copying a printing document can be implemented, in addition to using a copying machine, by using a scanner and a printer together. According to the copying method using a scanner and a printer together, a printing document is read by a scanner and the image data thus captured is printed out by a printer connected to the scanner.
In an environment where a scanner is connected to plural printers via a network, this method is also usable as substitute for a facsimile when information is transmitted to a recipient by causing one of the printers that is remotely located from the scanner to print out the information. If a failure occurs during copying processing being performed in such environment where a scanner is connected to plural printers via a network, a failure message is displayed on display screens of both the scanner and the printers. This is because the printing processing is realized by the cooperative interlinkage between the scanner and the printers.
However, an alarm screen displayed on both the scanner and the printers to indicate the failure may cause confusion to a user, which would not only adversely affect recovery from the failure, but also cause erroneous operation leading to a second failure.
There has been proposed a technique that is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-257820, which is so arranged that, when a printer and a scanner are used together as a single multi-function printer, only one of the operation panels is enabled to set the functions of operation panels in both the printer and the scanner, while inputting operations through the other operation panel are prohibited or disabled.
According to the conventional technique disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-257820, the scanner and the printer are detachably connected by a connecting member. This technique is able to enhance the operability of the operation panels if designated scanner and printer are connected.
There has also been proposed a technique that is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-270167, which is so arranged that a printer is controlled by a controller on the scanner side only when a copy instruction is given by the operation panel of the scanner so as to operate the printer and the scanner synchronously to perform copying.
The conventional technique disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-270167 makes it possible to perform copying with a simple operation of the scanner.
Further, according to the conventional technique disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-270167, if an error occurs on the printer side while the scanner and the printer are being used as the copy mode, a message is displayed on the scanner's operation panel, indicating a brief outline of the error and an instruction to look at the printer's operation panel, while displaying details of the error on the printer's operation panel. This makes it possible to easily handle the error.
However, the description of the conventional technique in the Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-257820 is limited to the operations of the operation panels when designated scanner and printer are connected by P2P (Peer to Peer) connection. This conventional technique poses a problem that the operability of the operation panels cannot be enhanced in a case where communication is to be conducted between an arbitrary combination of a scanner and a printer among plural scanners and printers present in a network.
In other words, the technique disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-257820 cannot enhance the operability of the operation panel if a single printer communicates with plural scanners.
According to the conventional technique disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-270167, in the scanners and the printers that are network-connected or locally connected, when an error occurs, the error will be handled by displaying an appropriate message to one side where the error has occurred and a different appropriate message to the other side that communicates with the one side. However, since it is possible for a third party to perform operations in a network-connected environment, a problem will occur that processing may be performed in a way not intended by the user.
As described in the Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-270167, if a failure occurs during printing processing in an environment where a scanner and a printer are connected (regardless of network-connection or local connection), the failure is handled individually and independently even though the scanner and the printer are interlinked with each other to cooperatively perform copying processing. This will pose a problem that an operation not intended by the user is done and this leads to a second failure.
For example, if the printer, operation of which is suspended by a failure which has occurred in the scanner during copying processing, is reset or restarted by a third party, the print-out operation cannot be restarted even through the failure in the scanner is removed.